BA strike: some of the biggest industrial disputes

1926 - General Strike

The TUC called a general strike on May 4, 1926 in support of mine workers who
were facing large pay cuts and longer hours. Workers from the railways,
roads, docks, steel, electricity and building industries, and many more,
went on strike. The Government sprang into action, taking control of the BBC
and sending a warship to Newcastle. Middle-class volunteers drove trains and
buses and got the electricity working again. Fears of a communist revolution
had been growing for several years, so the middle classes opposed the
strike. After the Army was called into London and police clashed with
strikers in Glasgow, Hull and Preston, the TUC eventually called off the
action a week later, leaving only the miners out on strike.